A gas turbine engine may be used to power aircraft or various other types of vehicles and systems. The engine typically includes a compressor that receives and compresses incoming gas such as air; a combustion chamber in which the compressed gas is mixed with fuel and burned to produce exhaust gas; and one or more turbines that extract energy from the high-pressure, high-velocity exhaust gas exiting the combustion chamber.
The arrangement and configuration of these sections impact many characteristics of the gas turbine engine, including overall engine length and weight, as well as the materials to construct the turbine engine. The overall length of the turbine engine may be shortened, thereby saving on materials, weight and length, by the use of a reverse flow annular combustion chamber. This type of combustion chamber is so named because the general direction of flow within and out of the chamber is opposite to the general direction of air flow that subsequently enters the turbine. Typically, a transition liner is fitted to the downstream portion of the annular combustion chamber and serves to redirect the flow of combustion gas into the turbine section, thereby resulting in a gas flow aligned with the turbine and the general direction of overall flow through the engine. The transition liner is typically configured as an annular ring with a concave hot side facing the combustion chamber.
The engine is subject to extreme temperatures, particularly at the transition liner that receives and redirects the combustion products. The high temperatures may cause thermal stresses and other problems. Conventional system and methods for cooling the transition liner, such as heat shields, louvers and impingement cooling, have been met with mixed success, at best.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide improved systems and methods for cooling the transition liner. Furthermore, other desirable features and characteristics of the present invention will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description of the invention and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and this background of the invention.